Just about all of Spain’s new self-employed staff (96.5%) within the final 4 years are foreigners. The place are they establishing store, what jobs are they doing and what is the motive behind this pattern?
A whopping complete of 96.5 p.c of recent autónomos in Spain who registered over the previous 4 years had been overseas nationals, based on the Nationwide Federation of Self-Employed Staff (ATA).
From March 2021 to the identical month in 2025, 108,155 new self-employed staff have signed as much as the Particular Regime for Self-Employed Staff (RETA) – out of those 104,338 have been overseas entrepreneurs.
“The information is overwhelming: the overseas self-employed group has turn into a elementary pillar of RETA’s progress over the past 4 years . This is not only a statistic; it is a actuality that demonstrates the vitality and dynamism they create to the Spanish productive cloth,” defined the president of ATA Lorenzo Amor.
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The truth is, the numbers of overseas autónomos (self employed) virtually doubled in quantity over the previous 10 years, having elevated by 92 p.c since 2015.
The variety of overseas self-employed staff elevated in all 17 areas apart from Ceuta and Melilla, which each misplaced contributors to the system.
The areas with the biggest variety of overseas self-employed staff since 2021 are Valencia with 22,391 overseas self-employed staff, Catalonia with 21,046 and Andalusia with 15,509, which is smart as these are additionally the areas which can be hottest with overseas residents, together with Madrid.
On the identical time, there was a lower within the variety of Spanish autónomos over the past 5 years in 9 areas: Aragón, Asturias, Cantabria, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, Galicia, Navarra, the Basque Nation and La Rioja.
Because the numbers of foreigners have elevated, nonetheless, the full total signed up has risen.
The expansion within the variety of overseas self-employed staff has been larger than that of Spanish nationals in most areas, apart from Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Madrid the place the expansion of self-employed staff of Spanish orgiin is bigger than that of foreigners.
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ATA revealed that the variety of overseas self-employed staff has grown over the previous 4 years, significantly within the development sector (+17,446 overseas self-employed staff), skilled, scientific, and technical fields (+13,906 self-employed staff), hospitality (+12,670), and data and communication (+11,115).
The skilled, scientific and technical fields embrace autónomos in accounting, structure and engineering, technical testing and evaluation, consulting, analysis, social sciences and humanities, promoting, public relations and communications, images, veterinary drugs, design, translation, interpretation and market analysis.
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“It’s overseas self-employed staff who are serving to to offset the declines in conventional sectors comparable to commerce and agriculture and who’re driving progress in actions comparable to development, hospitality, {and professional} companies,” defined the president of ATA.
The Spanish authorities have been open in regards to the pivotal position overseas self-employed staff are enjoying in Spain. They’re wanted in a rustic with an ageing inhabitants and in place which can be affected by depopulation.
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“Overseas entrepreneurship is a elementary pillar of our nation’s financial system,” Spain’s Union of Professionals and Self-Employed Staff (UPTA) President Eduardo Abad has stated, along with his organisation estimating that Spain will want one other 200,000 extra overseas autónomos within the subsequent 5 years.
So why the steep enhance in overseas entrepreneurs and reduce in Spanish ones?
There are a number of causes behind the shift in numbers.
Firstly, there’s the truth that Spain’s inhabitants is rising (now 49.1 million) and that is additionally virtually fully as a result of arrival of extra foreigners, reasonably than extra Spanish infants being born. Inevitably, an even bigger migrant inhabitants partially accounts for the upper variety of overseas autónomos.
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One other of probably the most important causes is the introduction of the Digital Nomad Visa (DNV) at the start of 2023.
This has enabled distant staff or people who labored for themselves for purchasers overseas to realize residency in Spain and has proved highly regarded with non-EU residents, significantly with these from the US and the UK.
It has additionally been in style with these from nations who can apply for Spanish citizenship after solely two years of residency comparable to these from the Philippines and Latin America.
With a purpose to be eligible, overseas self-employed staff have to vow to enroll to the autónomo system.
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Another excuse is the truth that it is usually it’s simpler for foreigners to begin their very own companies than to depend on the native job market. With excessive ranges of unemployment, comparatively low salaries in contrast and language necessities, getting a job right here as a foreigner could be difficult.
For a lot of, it’s truly simpler to try to work with purchasers again of their house nations or begin companies aimed toward different foreigners.
Thirdly, many foreigners imagine it’s a great way to have the ability to stay in Spain, however underestimate how powerful it’s to really be self-employed right here and so join with out truly figuring out the way it all works.
The truth is, the ‘dream’ for a lot of Spanish staff is to turn into a civil servant, and quite a lot of those that’ve reached this conclusion are former autónomos.
Self-employment tax guidelines and rules in Spain could be extraordinarily tough to get your head round, and what’s extra you’re required to pay one of many highest quantities of social safety in Europe. To place issues into perspective, when you’re incomes sufficient to be eligible for the DNV (€2,763 per 30 days), you’ll be paying €440 in social safety every month.
And this isn’t even tax – the tax is paid individually on prime of this. You’ll additionally doubtless must pay a gestor or accountant to do your taxes as they’re so sophisticated right here – forcing you to fork out a median of one other €50 per 30 days.
Round €500 per 30 days straight off the bat earlier than you even earn something could be very prohibitive for a lot of to even begin a enterprise.
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Being self-employed right here additionally means stricter guidelines in the case of the way you bill, the way you receives a commission and what you’ll be able to offset in opposition to your taxes. It is probably not the identical as again in your house nation.
The drop within the variety of Spanish self-employed staff may be defined by the truth that they’re conscious of how tough the system is and don’t need to tackle that burden. They might be happier merely being an worker with out the additional stress.
The truth is this may be evidenced by the truth that solely three out of ten (29.7 p.c) of Spaniards would suggest self-employment to others, based on a survey by Emprendedores entrepreneurs web site.
Regardless of the excessive funds and strict guidelines, nonetheless, being self-employed and paying social safety Spain does allow you to get public well being care, paternity and maternity pay and in some instances sick pay too.
It’s additionally one of many best methods to have the ability to transfer to Spain when you’re from a non-EU nation and plenty of foreigners many to make it work.
If you understand what you’re stepping into, learn up on all the foundations and are conscious of how a lot you’ll must pay out it might be an amazing possibility if in case you have your warmth set on residing in Spain.
